Category Archives: rhetoric

Calling Out Real Stupidity

politics, rhetoric 3 Comments

Doubtlessly as the year draws on I will be drawn back, to some extent, to the spectre of national politics, if only for the horse race aspect of this November’s elections. Any kind of heavy-duty number crunching has a strong appeal to me, and I’m certainly more interested in politics than sports or fantasy sports or anything else like that. For the most part, though, I’m kind of enjoying not following the news so religiously, even if Buckeye Cablesystem really needs to get Current so…

Read More »

Are You Ready For Some Hyperbole?

freespeech, politics, rhetoric, television Leave a comment

This past week ESPN pulled Hank Williams Jr.’s “Are You Ready for Some Football” song from its Monday Night Football telecast in response to Williams invoking Hitler when discussing President Obama on Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends. Originally cutting the song for only one week, ESPN later decided to ax the song from its broadcast altogether, although Williams has since claimed that he made the decision to pull the song himself after, in his words, “[ESPN] stepped on the Toes of the First Amendment…

Read More »

The Importance of Laughing at Yourself

personal, politics, rhetoric, television 6 Comments

Eleven years ago, when I rather infamously flamed out on the Internet, one of the main reasons I lost it was that I lacked the ability to laugh at myself.  To be sure I’ve always played up my geekiness and nerdiness and how silly I can be, but at the time I wasn’t able to apply that attitude towards the work I was doing online.  As that work became more difficult and I realized that I really didn’t even like the work, I didn’t handle…

Read More »

The Death of Reaganomics’ Biggest Lie

books, politics, rhetoric Leave a comment

Although I never cared for Rush Limbaugh’s politics, in the early 1990s I couldn’t deny having an appreciation for his bluster.  (I was also a fan of Morton Downey Jr.’s back in the day for the same reason.  I can only say I was young and stupid back then.)  When Limbaugh went on his short-lived television show the day Kurt Cobain’s dead body was discovered and called him a “worthless piece of human garbage” and got cheers from his audience, that pretty much turned me…

Read More »

Let Me Tell You About My Mom

dad, family, mom, personal, politics, rhetoric Leave a comment

Two days ago my mother turned 66 years old.  I wish I could devote this blog merely to that fact, but present circumstances prevent me from doing so, and require me to focus on some of the less pleasant aspects of her current living situation. Mom, although certainly a strong and independent woman, always wished to be a homemaker.  After my sister was born in 1966, Mom gave herself over entirely to parenting and homemaking.  In my younger years Mom kept a small garden in…

Read More »